The Watershed Management Plan

“Keeping Mirror Lake, NH and Surrounding Land Healthy”

The protection of Mirror Lake, NH is guided its history of water quality assessment. For decades volunteers collected water samples and had them analyzed by both the NH Department of Environmental Services and the University of New Hampshire Extension Program. This diligence led to early recognition in 2008 of cyanobacteria in the lake, a threat recently widely recognized by most lakes in New Hampshire. By 2010 the MPLA sought and was awarded a Section 319 grant. Over the next two years, Geosyntec engineers conducted a comprehensive study of Mirror Lake and produced the 164-page Geosyntec Watershed Management Plan, published in May 2012. On page 74 is a summary of ten major projects divided by high, medium, and low priority intended to reduce the phosphorus load on Mirror Lake. Over the succeeding decade, with major support from the Town of Tuftonboro, almost all of the proposed actions were completed. The one exception, of medium priority, suggested the implementation of community septic systems. Although home owners on Mirror Lake have sometimes listened to the rationale behind community septic systems, the timing, costs, and requirements for collaboration with multiple neighbors, remain barriers to implementation of community septic systems. Since Mirror Lake does not supply public water, there are no state or federal financial incentives available to assist in the construction of such systems. Community septic systems remain a MLPA goal.

As of summer 2023, the MLPA plans to embark on the preparation of a new Watershed Management Plan, a complex and collaborative planning process which may extend over the next several years, producing a proposal that will likely take a decade to implement. In this way, we will gain the perspective of water and land conservation professionals, as well as the support of local residents, to engage in the protective measures needed to keep Mirror Lake, NH safeguarded for future generations.